foster

adj

1. (not-comparable)Providing parental care to children not related to oneself.

   “foster parents”

2. (not-comparable)Receiving such care.

   “a foster child”

3. (not-comparable)Related by such care.

   “We are a foster family.”

noun

1. (countable, informal)A foster parent.

   “Some fosters end up adopting.”

2. (uncountable)The care given to another; guardianship.
3. (obsolete)A forester.

   “A griesly Foster forth did rush.”

verb

1. (transitive)To nurture or bring up offspring, or to provide similar parental care to an unrelated child.

   “Some ſay that Rauens foſter forlorne children, / The whilſt their owne birds famiſh in their neſts: / Oh be to me though thy hard hart ſay no, / Nothing ſo kinde but ſomething pittiful.”

2. (transitive)To promote the development of something; to cultivate and grow a thing.

   “Our company fosters an appreciation for the arts.”

   “⁠A flower beat with rain and wind, Which once she foster’d up with care”

   “And Time, which is the hound of Sish, devoured all things; and Sish sent up the ivy and fostered weeds, and dust fell from the hand of Sish and covered stately things.”

   “Grimsby doesn't ever wound quite as devastatingly as Borat or Brüno, but it's a vital, lavish, venomously profane two fingers up at Benefits Street pity porn and the social division it fosters.”

3. (transitive)To nurse or cherish something.
4. (intransitive, obsolete)To be nurtured or trained up together.

   “There Florimell, in her first ages flowre, And passing beautie did eftsoones reveale, Was fostered by those Graces”

name

1. (countable, uncountable)An English surname originating as an occupation, variant of Forster.

   “The Mets got that four-run cushion in the seventh when George Foster stepped in as a pinch-hitter and hit a two-run homer for the 5-1 final.”

2. (countable, uncountable)A male given name transferred from the surname.
3. (countable, uncountable)A placename
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17. (abbreviation, alt-of, countable, ellipsis, uncountable)A placename